'Cloverfield' Director to Helm New Batman Movie

Since Ben Affleck quit his job as director of the upcoming Batman movie last month, speculation has been rampant over who would replace him at the helm of this critical installment in the DC cinematic universe. This week we got confirmation that one of the reported front-runners for the job will, indeed, be taking over directorial duties.

The job now belongs to Matt Reeves, whose early career included co-writing and directing credits on the Gwyneth Paltrow/David Schwimmer rom-com The Pallbearer. That project was produced, believe it or not, by JJ Abrams, and Abrams and Reeves would eventually team up to create Felicity for The WB.

Reeves made his biggest initial splash directing 2008's Cloverfield, and he went on to direct Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He's also working on the follow-up to that film, War for the Planet of the Apes.

Affleck stepped down as the director of the Batman film because he felt unable to produce, star in and direct the film all at once. The as-yet-untitled film doesn't have an official release date, but it's likely to hit theaters sometime in 2019.